Portfolio:

David Biskup

Bristol-based illustrator David Biskup aims to raise a smile with his editorial work, and also enjoys personal comic projects. Here, he shares his portfolio.

Where did you train?

I studied illustration at UWE (University of the West of England) in Bristol.

What are your favourite tools?

I don't know where I'd be without my Rotring 600 mechanical pencil. It's got to the point where I find it hard to draw with anything else!

What techniques and approaches do you use most?

I've got a pretty set way of working on editorial illustrations that I know will always work, even when I'm on a really tight deadline. It involves spending most of the time on the roughs with a pencil, many many sheets of cheap printer paper and a lightbox. I then trace the different sections of the image and put them together in Photoshop.

When I'm working on stuff for fun I tend to play around more. I've been doing a lot of stuff with really brightly coloured inks recently, and have just bought some plasticine that I've been mucking around with.

What has been your favourite piece you've created and why?

The most rewarding piece recently has been the cover of the magazine Eight. Physically it's a huge magazine, which presented a big challenge. I decided to do a really busy scene with all sorts of stuff going on. It was in a month when I had loads of work on and had to finish it all by a certain day as I was going on holiday, so it was pretty stressful. It was definitely worth it though.

Which clients have you worked for?

A few recent ones have been The New York Times, G4S, Management Today and Usbek & Rica.

What has inspired you most recently?

I picked up a small postcard sized cheaply printed flyer from a French publisher at Elcaf this year. It's insanely colourful and has a great smiley face thing on it. I asked the guy from the publisher whose work it was and he had no idea.

I like the idea that in an age where you can find out anything within seconds that I still don't know who did it. As far as I can tell there are no images of it on the internet. It's bizarre! Anyway, it's really great and it's on the wall of my studio. It's also the wallpaper on my phone. I don’t want to find out who did it because it would totally ruin the mystique.

What are you working on now?

I did a new comic for a comic and zine fair that I tabled at recently. It was really find to work on some short comics again, so I'm running with that and playing around with ideas for new comics at the moment.

What's your dream commission?

An album cover for the Mountain Goats.

Front and back wraparound cover illustration for Eight Magazine

Step 1

Front and back wraparound cover illustration for Eight Magazine

Step 2

Editorial illustration for an Op-Ed article about the Australian elections.